What is the difference between ball valve and gate valve

The primary disadvantage of the ball valve is the requirement of space. In tight applications, you may not have 90 degrees to turn the valve's handle.

Also, in rare instances a ball valve can create a water hammer condition. PVC Ball Valves - view products. PVC ball valves offer the affordability and flexibility of PVC piping and can be used in areas where high pressure and high heat are not a concern. Brass Ball Valves - view products. Resistant to high temperatures, brass ball valves are great for manufacturing needs and hot water applications. Bronze Ball Valves - view products.

Bronze pvc valves are often found on ships because of the low risk of corrosion with the constant exposure to seawater. Stainless Steel Ball Valves - view products. Stainless steel is prized for its strength, and these ball valves are used in applications with high pressure and temperature. It also won't rust or corrode, so it can be used in water and corrosive chemical applications. Both ball and gate valves serve a purpose.

By choosing the right one for your application, you can be certain that your plumbing system will serve you well. Get a Price Quote. Get a Price Quote Schedule 80 PVC Pipe. PVC Duct Pipe. CPVC Duct. Double Containment Pipe. Cross Slip Reducing Cross. Caps FPT. Plugs MPT. Carbon Steel Check Valves. Cast Bronze Ball Valves. Filtration by Brand. Filter Housings. Filter Cartridges. Filter Bags. Replacement Parts.

Safety Glasses. The ball valve design has a hollowed-out ball that acts as the disc which allows the flow of media. Mostly for non-slurry applications, ball valves are also suited for applications that require tight shut-off. The quick opening and closing of the ball make it important in some applications that need media isolation.

Ball valves are commonly used in low-pressure applications. In a nutshell, ball valves are best for control and management of media with minimal pressure drop. On the other hand, gate valves belong to the linear motion valve family. Otherwise known as the knife valve or the slide valve, the gate valve has a flat or wedge disc that acts as a gate.

This gate or disc controls the flow of fluid inside the valve. The gate valve is best used when the linear flow of media with less pressure drop is preferred. It is a shut-off valve with throttling capacity. It is intended more for material flow as to flow regulation.

More suitable for thicker flow media, the flat disc of gate valves makes it easier to cut through such kind of media. The gate valve is also part of the rotary family as the wheel or actuator needs to be rotated for the wedge or disc to open. For its closing position, the gate moves downwards and between two seats located on the upper portion of the disc as well as at its bottom as shown in the image above.

Ball valves have a hollow sphere that allows the passage of media. If you look at the cross-section of the ball valve below, the operation is through the rotation of the shaft or stem by a quarter of a turn. The stem is perpendicular to the ball part of the valve.

Fluid is allowed to pass when the stem is at the right angle with regards to the ball disc. The lateral movement of the media plays an important role in the shut-off mechanism. Ball valves use fluid pressure to act upon the valve or seat to provide a tight seal, depending on the ball valve configuration. Ball valves can be full port or reduced port. A full port ball valve means its diameter is the same as the pipe. This allows for low operating torque and pressure drop.

However, there are also reduced port type where the size of the valve is one size smaller than that of the pipe size. Gate valves work by lifting the gate or disc to allow the media to pass through the valve. These types of valves only allow unidirectional flow with little pressure drop.

You would often see gate valves with handwheels. The handwheel is attached to the packing. There are two kinds of gate valve stem designs. When this hand wheel rotates, the stem rises to the outside environment and, at the same time, lifts the gate. The other kind of gate valve is the non-rising gate valve. This is characterized by the stem threaded into the wedge, thereby exposing it to the media. When the gate valve opens, the path becomes larger. The flow path is not linear in the sense that the media can occupy the void as seen in the illustration below.

If the gate valve is used as a throttle, it would have an uneven flow rate. This will cause vibration. They use a hollow ball which is both perforated and pivoted to control flow.

It closes when pivoted to 90 degrees by the valve handle, which lies flat, and level with the flow when open and perpendicular when closed. To settle the ball valve vs gate valve debate, we opened up the discussion to leading Scottish industrial valve distributors, BM Engineering Supplies, who stock both valves types.

They stated that the benefit of a ball valve vs a gate valve is that they seal much tighter, therefore making them better at avoiding leakage than gate valves.

In addition, they are also easier to use than gate valves, offering both lower rates of failure and greater longevity. The durability of ball valves makes them an ideal choice for shutoff applications. They perform consistently well after many cycles, as well as boasting reliability and the ability to close securely even after long periods without use. For these reasons, they are often preferred over gate and globe valves. For more information about ball or gate valves or any of the other products that they stock, visit the BM Engineering Supplies website.

BM Engineering Supplies is an industrial valve supplier with stocks of high-quality process and general purpose valves. Interested in receiving even more industry-leading news from Process Industry Forum delivered directly to your inbox? Then sign up to our free newsletter. Bringing you the latest news, trends, innovations and opinion from across the process industry, our exclusive newsletter gives you all the industry insights of the moment in one, easy-to-digest bulletin.